Tag: TNT

Springer mulls exit from postal business

Posted by | Dec 1, 2007 | |

German publisher Axel Springer is considering exiting its postal business after the German government’s decision this week to impose a minimum wage for workers in the sector, a company spokeswoman said.

Springer has been in talks with Dutch mail and parcel group TNT about merging their German mail services companies, TNT Post and Springer’s PIN Group, a personal familiar with the matter has told Reuters.

But German weekly magazine Focus reported on Saturday that the talks had broken down after the government set minimum wages of up to 9.80 euros ($14.45) per hour, depending on the employee’s level of responsibility.

The sum is far more than private competitors to former state monopoly Deutsche Post pay their employees.

The Springer spokeswoman told Reuters: “We are examining all options and currently cannot rule out anything as regards the future of PIN.” She declined to comment on the current state of negotiations with TNT.

Springer bought a majority stake in PIN for 510 million euros earlier this year in anticipation of the liberalisation of the postal market in Germany, where Deutsche Post is set to lose its domestic mail monopoly at the start of next year.

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TNT to ask for delay of Dutch postal liberalisation

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

TNT said it will ask the Dutch parliament to delay liberalisation of the country’s postal market, set for Jan. 1, as a proposed deal on minimum postal wages in Germany would rule out a level playing field in Europe.

“We want to make clear to parliament that there is no level playing field. It is an implicit call to pull the emergency break,” a TNT spokesman said on Friday, referring to a condition in the Dutch postal liberalisation law that allows for possible implementation later.

The Dutch postal law would end TNT’s monopoly on delivering letters of up to 50 grams and is part of a European Union effort to liberalise mail services.

But a wage agreement proposed in Germany would result in higher costs for TNT, making it difficult for TNT’s nascent operations in Germany to become profitable.

TNT competes in the Netherlands with privately held Sandd and Deutsche Post’s Selekt Mail.

Shares in Deutsche Post were up 2.5 percent at 23.29 euros as traders said a German minimum wage would limit market share losses for Deutsche Post in Germany.

German services union Verdi and the postal employers’ association have agreed on a new formula for their wage contract which could open the way to a deal on a minimum wage in the sector, the union said on last Thursday 29th November.

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TNT and trade unions agree to extend present TNT collective labour agreement

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

TNT and the trade unions ABVAKABO FNV, BVPP, CNV Publieke Zaak and VPP have reached an agreement on extending the present TNT Collective Labour Agreement to 1 April 2008. Employees will receive a one-off gross payment in December 2007 and March 2008 of 400 Euros and 125 Euros respectively. The parties have agreed to this extension to allow them more time to develop proposals that can achieve the previously announced structural savings for TNT Post. The results of these proposals will subsequently be included in the TNT Collective Labour Agreement from 1 April 2008.

The need for these structural savings was verified in June this year by the Boston Consulting Group in its study commissioned by the unions and the works council Productie of TNT Post. For TNT this agreement is an important step forwards towards conditions of employment for its employees which are more in line with the market.

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TNT gains most in two years on speculation about market opening

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

TNT NV, Europe’s second-biggest express-delivery company, rose the most in two years in Amsterdam trading following speculation the Dutch government may delay plans to open its mail market.

TNT shares rose as much as 1.24 euros, or 4.6 percent, to 28.10 euros, the biggest increase since Dec. 6, 2005, and were up 4.2 percent as of 11:51 a.m. The stock has fallen 14 percent this year.

An agreement reached by Germany’s coalition government to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers means the Dutch government may “pull the ’emergency brake’ on its market liberalization,” Andrew Beh, an analyst at Bear Stearns in London, said in a note to investors today.

TNT is scheduled to lose its monopoly on mail delivery in the Netherlands starting in January under measures approved by the country’s parliament in June. The opening is tied to a “level playing field” in Europe, which means it may be suspended if other European countries take measures that could hurt competition.

A suspension of the Dutch market opening would remove any “immediate” threat to the company’s mail volumes and earnings before interest and taxes at the mail business, JP Morgan analyst Damian Brewer said in a separate note to investors.

European Union governments agreed on Oct. 1 to require member countries to open up their letter-delivery markets to competition no later than 2011. Eleven of the EU’s 27 member states don’t have to liberalize their markets until 2013.

Standard letters are two-thirds of the EU’s 88 billion-euro postal market and offer twice the profit margin of packages and express mail, according to the European Commission, the Brussels-based EU executive arm.

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